Q 01/05

Antonio Vivaldi, ordained in 1703, was nicknamed the Red Priest in Venice because of the colour of what?

A) His robes

B) His hair

C) His beard

D) His violin

Answer · why

B) His hair

His hair was red, a Vivaldi family trait, and it gave the young cleric a name that stuck for life. He kept the nickname even though he soon stopped sa...

Q 02/05

The orchestra Vivaldi trained at Venice's Pietà drew visitors from across Europe, and its players were all what?

A) Sailors

B) Blind

C) Monks

D) Female

Answer · why

D) Female

Female musicians filled every seat, performing behind a metal grille that screened them from the audience. Most of them stayed at the Pietà for their ...

Q 03/05

Vivaldi taught music for decades at Venice's Ospedale della Pietà, which was what kind of institution?

A) A plague hospital

B) A naval academy

C) An orphanage

D) A debtors' prison

Answer · why

C) An orphanage

An orphanage for abandoned children, the Pietà took in infants through a window only large enough for a baby. Vivaldi joined in 1703 as its master of ...

Q 04/05

Hoping for an emperor's patronage, Vivaldi left Venice late in life and died poor in 1741 in which city?

A) Vienna

B) Prague

C) Dresden

D) Rome

Answer · why

A) Vienna

Vienna was meant to be a fresh start, but the emperor died soon after Vivaldi arrived. Left without a patron or a steady income, he died within a year...

Q 05/05

Which composer arranged ten of Vivaldi's concertos for keyboard, including one reworked for four harpsichords?

A) George Frideric Handel

B) Georg Philipp Telemann

C) Domenico Scarlatti

D) Johann Sebastian Bach

Answer · why

D) Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach learned from Vivaldi by transcribing him, turning six concertos into solo keyboard pieces and three into organ works. The Italia...